CHILDREN AND MEDIA

Media and Our Children.
It is believed that media literacy is very crucial for today’s children. It makes the difference between kids being a tool of media or the media being used as a tool by the children. These days young children demand technologically-controlled toys and being online is regarded as a normal part of growing up.

Why Media-related Guidance?
The media arts tools are easily accessible and having the entertainment world at their fingertips is an exciting prospect for every child. This is where adult guidance becomes very important. The parents have to make sure that the children use technology as it end-users and don’t become emotionally dependent on them. Media tools should be used to encourage a child’s creativity and not replace it. It is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to guide children through the use of various media tools.

Preschoolers and Kindergartners
Kids of this age are easy prey to accepting everything that is on the television as the reality. The parent’s role becomes critical here. For example, the parents have to explain that television commercials using extreme special effects aren’t the reality but just a fanciful creation.

Elementary Students
These children have some degree of developed analytical skills and are capable of grasping the basic concepts of the images seen on the television and computer. However, children this age might take a particular fancy to certain characters and start developing a virtual world of such friends. Again, the parents have to be careful that children don’t get obsessive about their favourite characters and don’t confuse reality with TV viewing.

Engaging Students in Media
The parents shouldn’t be afraid of encouraging a child to enjoy the media in its various forms. However, the parents have to ensure that these activities are suitable for the child’s age. Parents can do this by slowly exposing the children to the world of media.

• Media in Everyday Life — using media is a part of our daily lives. Even a young child should be encouraged to see how technology has made his/her toys so amazing.

• Active Involvement — preschoolers love to sing and dance with music from TV or a radio. Try and focus the child’s attention towards the number of channels a TV can play. Try and tell the child about the incredible use of a TV remote.

• Voice Recording — a very comfortable activity to introduce children to the media is to tape record the child’s voice as he recites a poem or a song. Then replay the tape. Children are fascinated upon hearing their own voice and want to find out how it the recording process actually works.

• Birthday Celebrations — parents could plan a special birthday party for their child and select the theme as ‘Be a Star’. A small gathering of the child’s friends can be invited. Ask the children to sing one-by-one. The children should be encouraged to sing independently. A small level of lighting controls and effects could be created on the podium where the children sing. The children would be curious about how a small theatre-like setting could be created in their own house.

• Outside Influences — children could be taken to aquariums and zoos. This helps the children related with the images of animals seen on TV.

• Photographing — a digital camera can be used to a great extent in making the children curious about how things work and how do natural settings look when they are clicked or presented as pictures.

WHY IS PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT ESSENTIAL ?

WHY IS PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT ESSENTIAL

Parents send their children off to school and expect the teachers and the school to take care of their child’s educational needs. However, parents themselves can play a vital role in ensuring that their children’s education is holistic and effective. Parent participation and involvement at home, and to a certain extent in school, has a major impact on the child’s focus and performance.

Parent can be Effective at Home by:
* Reading to the child – reading aloud is considered the most effective way to develop a child’s aptitude to read, write, think and be creative.
* Discussing about the characters in the books and stories the child likes the most.
* Helping the child in organizing his daily schedule.
* Limiting the quality and quantity of television viewing, especially on school nights.
* Talking to the child about the daily happenings in his school.
* Making sure that the child completes his homework before going to bed.

Parents can be Involved in the School by:
* Meeting with a teacher at PTA and maintaining communication with the school staff members to determine the extent of the parent involvement needed. It is essential that parents do volunteer some time for the school activities. They could do so by:
* Becoming a student helper and help in organising classroom activities.
* Tutoring or reading out to or with the other children.
* Assisting and helping the coaches at sporting events.
* Helping out the school in holding arts and crafts workshops.
* Assisting with a school club or a drama group.
* Speaking to the students about professional subjects.
* Helping the class in writing small news articles.
* Working as a library assistant for a few hours, every month.
* Assisting children with special needs.
* Helping out in preparation of computer and science projects.
* Planning out and helping in raising money for various school clubs.
* Accompanying or helping to arrange various field trips for the children.

Children of Involved Parents:
* Are less frequently absent and don’t skip school.
* Are better behaved and are socially more active.
* Perform better academically.
* Develop better levels of self-confidence.
* Have lesser stress-related or anxiety issues.

PARENTING A GIFTED & TALENTED CHILD

Children are much vulnerable to fear as threats, risks and dangers are close at hand. Ask the mother of Taniya (24 months) and she would sadly announce that her child came to know about some ghost story and from that day sleeps with lights switched on.

Small children are immature and their understanding of things is raw. They tend to believe whatever they are told and worse than that they add to their own worries by imagining a lot that is impractical.

“Children live in an imaginary world, which over the time is replaced by the real world,” says Pooja, who works as a childcare specialist. “Coupled with this fact that the kids have a natural tendency to exaggerate things, it becomes a real problem sometimes to convince the child as what is possible and assure the safety.”

Children also derive very simple meanings from their perceptions – whatever they see and whatever they hear. It is either fun or the thing to refrain from. Kids like cartoons because the characters are often funny, yet meaningful to them.

After watching a Spiderman show on television, young Aryan actually believes that Spiderman exists and that he can cast a web or swings high on a rope.

The toddlers are more scared when someone narrates a horrified version of a telltale or similar story. They may also see or experience a normal event as distorted and reatening. For example a ball hanging in the basket may appear in the poor light as an unusual figure or form. Children may also carry fears about other people, some objects or animals.

How Can Mommy Help?
Our experts are of the opinion that parents must try not to expose their children to material and content that involves violence, supernatural phenomena, etc. The parents must also refrain from narrating their children ghost stories or any such tales. The mind of a child is very sensitive and it can just hang on to any idea.

The mother of the toddler, as the child trusts the mother most, has to assure and convince the child that its safety is taken care of and that the kid must not be afraid of telltales or carry fear of other children or people.

Further, the parents must ensure that they get to the root of the problem. A lot of explaining needs to be done and the parents should ensure that they are available and know how to deal with it.

HELPING CHILDREN UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD

HELPING CHILDREN UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD

Pampered Child: When to Say “No” to your Child
Even before a child is born, the parents are too eager to shower their love and care on the arriving guest. With the newborn in the family, a whole set of transitions takes place. It can be better described as one of the important phases in the lifecycle of a human being. The father and the mother, together they have to provide the child with all they can.

As the baby grows, it starts demanding. Children are very intelligent and respond quickly. They learn easily and when it is time to twist then know which way to do it.

A child hardly understands the difference between wants, desires and needs. He might ask for Santa Claus, the cycle the kid in the neighbourhood has, new toys and what not. Mrs. Priya says that her youngest kid wants all that the elder ones get and she has a hard time negotiating with the kid. That is one point where some children get spoilt as their parents fail to realize what is needed by the child.

When To Say No?
“Believe me, it is so awful and strange as my daughter begins to sob, when I say ‘No’ and she does not understand,” says Amrita. “I am myself confused at times as whether her demand is really needed or not.”

A child enjoys pampering the most. The baby just feels like giving orders, which should be obeyed and fulfilled by the subjects. Parents also like to pamper their children, but limits have to be drawn. A pampered child might get used to wishes and whims that are easily fulfilled by the parents and other family members.

‘Negotiate and negotiate hard’, that is the best advice you can have on parenting. The child must, even if it appears unacceptable to the child, learn to ask only those things which parents do allow. If the parent says no, then no it means. After negotiations, if the child continues to insist then the parent has to say no and close the chapter as soon as possible. Even a little leniency can make the child feel that it is possible provided he or she keeps insisting. It becomes a habit and then starts affecting the behaviour.

Other Methods
One parent who has written to us from Pune says that she often negotiates by providing alternates. The child asks for a mobile phone and we settle on comic books. That way the child also gets something worth to have and the parent also manages to grant the wish of the child.

DEALING WITH ANXIETY PROBLEMS

DEALING WITH ANXIETY PROBLEMS

Examination-related Anxiety
Anxiety, during examination time, among children of all ages is virtually universal. Except for the very innocent preschoolers, most school students tend to suffer from this problem. However, it isn’t such big a problem as long as it doesn’t reach frightening proportions and starts to affect the child’s performance and his perception of education itself.

Understanding the Affects of Anxiety?
Anxiety could lead to a host of other problems in students. The most common ones include a bout of sudden headache, some loss of focus, abnormal fears, greater irritability, sudden bursts of anger and acute depression episodes. Stressful conditions can inhibit a student’s ability to retain and recall what he had learnt during an examination. This is primarily because anxiety creates a chemical imbalance in the brain.

It has been proven without doubt that anxiety inhibits a child’s cognitive behaviour. This can be further understood by the impact of negative emotions. Anxiety causes the nervous system to function too fast or too lazily and the child’s ability to think clearly is hindered.

There are some tips than can be taught by parents to prevent their children from developing anxiety.

• Practicing Deep Breathing
Most students face exam-related stress and anxiety. When such a moment occurs, try and make them focus off the negative sphere of mind. Make the child breathe deeply by involving the centre of the chest. This exercise can be done during the days prior to a test or just before appearing in a test.

• Turn Around Self-questioning
Usually when anxiety acts up, students start to think negatively and a lot of ‘What-if’ questions enter their minds. Students should be taught to turn around the negative questions into positive ones.

For example, instead of thinking, “What if I can’t remember my notes?” try and tell your child to think, “What if every question comes from what I have learnt? How great would that be?”

• Sleeping to be Calmer
Examination days usually involve long, extended study sessions. However, parents should make sure that the child catches up on a minimum of seven hours of sleep per day. Sleep deprivation could lead to actually forgetting what one had learnt.

• Last-minute Tips
Children should be prevented from cramming too much information hours before the examination. Rather than last-minute preparations, parents should focus on keeping sure that their child is calm and revises what he has already learnt.

WHAT IS PEACEFUL PARENTING?

WHAT IS PEACEFUL PARENTING?

Every Parent’s Nightmare
Most of the parent-child conflicts are those centred on daily activities like going to bed or waking up, limitations of going outdoors and school homework. Many parents feel as they are engaged in a constant power struggle with their children. Parents feel frustrated and worn out and the children feel questioned and irritated. In cases of extreme hostility between the two, a child may feel threatened and determined to resist his parents’ wishes.

Trouble in the Making
A parents’ attempt to control their children through authority could trigger resistance and violence in children. Even if young children react well to parent authority it could be just a case of temporary submission. The resentment, if any, inside the child would surface later when he grows up. This is when parenting turns violent as both the parents and the child try to control each other and there is a general loss of trust and goodwill in the whole family.

Authoritative Parenting?
Some parents are prone to threatening or using extreme authority over the children. They tend to make many demands and enforce them with punishment or promises. When the child crosses teenage years, such parents usually find themselves involved in a bitter struggle with their child. Even if children aren’t immediately resisting parental demands, parents could still be generating a negative environment every time they attempt to exert supremacy over the children.

The Dilemma
Most parents want their children to have the characters and the skills which enable them to make the best choices in life. However, they seem to ignore the fact that these skills can’t be developed if a child develops a fear of blame or parental punishment. Anger and resentment is common among children today as they try and fight out the level of parental control exerted on them. These negative feelings of anger and bitterness are sometimes expressed through self-destructive habits that a child develops. Many such children become violent at school, start using abusive behaviour or may get hooked on to bad company and the use of alcohol or even drugs.

Finding a Solution
Peaceful parenting begins from the time children are toddlers. The child at that age has to be made to realise what is wrong and not acceptable. The best way to make him follow a rule is leading by example. Again, to let him feel empowered, try and make the child responsible for certain household issues when he grows up. This could include taking care of the toolbox or buying the weekly quota of fruits for the family or keeping an eye as to which member of the family has been overspending. This process combines self-realisation and responsibility for the child. These skills help to create children who can embrace understanding and peace and are at ease with the idea of being disciplined and liberated at the same time.

SIGNIFICANCE OF PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE

SIGNIFICANCE OF PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE

Need for a Parent-teacher meeting
Issues like a child’s speech delay or developing temper-related mannerisms are often discussed at parent-teacher meetings besides the obvious subject of the child’s classroom performance. These are many advantages for a caregiver and a parent to attend a parent-teacher conference. An insight into the psychology of the parents and the ability to evaluate the kind of atmosphere they are providing to the child at home, is of vital importance to a teacher. Parents too need to look beyond their child\’s academic performance and should seek an honest opinion regarding his shortcomings.

Understanding the Parent Perspective
It becomes vitally important that an open line of communication and responsive relationship is established between the parents and teachers who are attending such a conference. In order to do this, the parents and teachers need to stay in touch via informal conversations over a period of time.

During the meet, it is crucial for the teachers and caregivers to be sensitive to the fact that most parents may have a thought process. The caregiver needs to ensure that they establish an open dialogue with the parents with the welfare of the child as its main theme. Even if the teacher has some serious issues with the child, it is imperative to establish a positive tone for the conference before embarking upon the discussion regarding the weaknesses of the child.

Holding a Parent-teacher Meeting
The teacher should try and arrange the parent-teacher meet at a convenient timing and should begin the meeting with some positive anecdotes about the child. The teacher should try and focus more on the abilities and competencies of the child before discussing his inadequacies. The teacher should try and encourage the parent\’s side of the discussion and their inputs. These contributions by the parents provide valuable insight in evaluating the child’s home environment and the kind of parent support he has.

Tackling the Problem
If the teacher has a grievance or a specific concern regarding the child’s performance, he should work out a methodology that involves the parents. An involved parent is a key component in sorting out the problems that a child faces. It is important to remember that the child’s upbringing combines a classroom and his home. The emphasis should be on planning a cooperative action plan with an honest follow-up. As the meeting reaches its conclusion, the parents should be encouraged to approach with any further questions or concerns that they might have.

HOW TO HANDLE GIFTED CHILD

HOW TO HANDLE GIFTED CHILD

Gifted children are indeed gifts for the parents. They make parents feel proud and achieve great success during their lifetime. It is important for parents to clearly understand the proper treatment that these children should receive, for they are often highly sensitive to relations. They are different from the normal children and need considerable attention for their proper development.

Who is a gifted child? How are they identified?

Gifted children are identified from their behaviour and acts. A gifted child may be a fast learner, very sensitive to feelings and emotions, inquisitive, methodical and deeply involved in subjects from an early age. Sometimes, gifted children are exposed to negative tendencies and may get involved with equal enthusiasm and vigour.

Gifted children usually don’t mix up with the kids of their age. Their IQ and mental level may make them misfits in their respective age groups. Therefore, socializing is one of the aspects that need to be properly looked after.

In classroom also, such children may feel bored or not interested. This can have impact on their studies.

Gifted children may also face problems responding as emotional beings. They may be too sensitive to small issues and may alienate themselves from others. Social alienation is also found to be common problem with the gifted children.

The parents should understand the needs of such children and try to avoid any situation, which might excite them more than they can safely handle. Like parents should be careful as not to scold the child or rebuke in public.

CHOOSING A PRESCHOOL

CHOOSING A PRESCHOOL

Some parents may assume that a playschool is a lot of fun, filled with the use of crayons and play-pens. The kids and the setting of all preschools may appear very innocent and similar but the kind of a preschool a kid steps into has far-reaching consequences on the child’s growth and development. A preschool lays the foundation for later academic success during formal education.

Considerations When Choosing a Preschool (In order to provide an easy overview of some of the basic factors to be considered while choosing a preschool, examples have been quoted by assuming a preschool, called abc preschool for the sake of comparison.)

• Credentials — most preschools are privately-owned and managed. Thus, they have the freedom to make their own rules.

A defectively-managed preschool, for example, abc preschool employs teachers that don’t have the essential Early Childhood Educational qualifications. Now, compare this with a reputed preschool like Shemrock. Every staff member there is well-qualified and experienced. Parents should check out a preschool’s accreditations and certifications.

• Time Schedule — this is something that parents often overlook as they can’t differentiate between a day care facility and a preschool. Day care centres often provide extended hours for taking care of kids, especially for working parents. However, a neighbourhood preschool, for example, abc preschool may offer shorter but more planned activities for the kids. Thus, the parents have to consider their personal schedule and the nature of preschool education they would prefer for their children.

• Discipline — the most integral part of preschooling is introducing the children to the concept of discipline. This is where preschool policies become very crucial. The parents have to be beware of schools with very a very liberal outlook towards teacher authority. For example, a preschool, abc preschool insists upon scolding the children harshly or punishing them severely for the slightest of mistakes. Does it make sense to introduce your kids to such an extreme form of authority, so early in their lives?

• On the other hand, a reputed preschool like Shemrock helps the children to make this transition into education and disciplining easy, by delving into child psychology and sorting out the emotional aspect of child behaviour.

• Nutrition — one very important aspect of any good quality preschool is the kind of meals/food provided to the children. Some neighbourhood preschools may insist upon feeding the children tasty but unhealthy/fast-food/sugar-loaded kind-of-meals. Whereas, prestigious preschools like Shemrock have personal nutritionists to make sure that kids are provided healthy, tasty and wholesome meals.

• School Safety — a close-by or neighbourhood preschool may be very convenient, but it could be compromising on the safety facet of a child. The security aspect is a very comprehensive concept and includes security in terms of the construction, infrastructure, transportation and even accessibility to the preschool campus by strangers.

CHILD’S FIRST STEPS

CHILD’S FIRST STEPS

Educators in India agree that formal education should ideally begin at the age of five. This is also the pattern followed and accepted across the nation. However, with many schools operating their own nursery grades, the definition of the term ‘formal’ education has been slightly altered. Generally, parents prefer that children start their education at the age of five, though there is a scope for some leverage in different parts of the country. However, rather than being obsessed about the age at which children start school in India, parents should also address issues like —

• Good Preschooling

• Helping the Child Start School

Preschooling
As the terms suggests, preschool is all about making a child prepared for his formal education. A child graduating from a preschool has better cognitive and learning skills and can easily adapt to the setting of a structured schooling programme. Skills taught at a preschool are essential before the beginning of statutory education.

Preschool is addressed by different names. A preschool could be called a playschool, day-care, pre-primary, pre-nursery or kindergarten. Young parents are prone to be concerned about the age at which children should start school India, but they should first take care of the preschooling aspect as this gives the child a structured foundation for further learning. The basic skills developed at this age last throughout a child’s life.

Helping the Child Start School
Most children find it difficult to acclimatize themselves to the proper classroom setting of a school. This is because the environment in a school isn’t as liberal and fun-focussed as that of a preschool. Thus, once the parents are through with the headache of gaining admission to a good school and the anxiety pangs of the correct age at which children start school in India have subsided, they should concentrate on helping the child with getting ready for school.

Some tips for parents have been listed below –
• All the supplies mentioned by the school including things like books, school bag, crayons, etc. should be bought beforehand.

• For the sake of the child’s safety and to make easier for others to guide him/her in the school premises, make sure that some of the items like the child’s clothing, lunch box, etc. are labelled with the child’s name/class/section.

• The child should be made aware about the commuting plan, inclusive of the drop-off and pick-up details.

• The parents should also prepare a hand-out for the school teacher or nurse, in case the child depends on particular medications.

The night before the first day at school is very important for the child. Most children are very apprehensive and may ask a number of questions. The parents should —

• Discuss the most probable morning routine with the child, including things like bath-time/bed-time/waking-up. Make the child aware that sticking to the schedule is necessary.

• Try and talk to the child about the things that should be expected on the first day at school.